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Taipei for a day – hospitality, food, traffic madness and cycling already

I am on my annual trip to the Taipei Cycle Show and already I feel like I have been here a week, before I even get to the bike show.

I guess it must be an attempt to ward off jet-lag because we have been incredibly active on day one and already I have managed to sample so many of the familiar features that I have got used to in the past five years.

We had only just landed and our Taiwanese friends in the cycling community have been throwing out the invitations. Manfred Neun, ECF’s President was here over the weekend meeting some of the academic community and we all got together for a great dinner last night with our friends from the Formosa Lohas Cycling Association.

The fusion of Asian and Western influenced food at the fantastic “Foodies” restaurant was great, eating at the sophisticated end of the scale.

But typical of this city of contrasts I have found an inner city farmers’ market round the corner from the hotel where exotic fruits and street-food have satisfied my confused body’s need for snacks.

The city’s bike share is booming and it seems to me the number of Youbikes on the streets has doubled, so of course I have already grabbed one and taken a two hour spin just to get the flight out of my system (or that’s my excuse)

Despite the smoggy gloom of the afternoon I wobbled between the madness of the city thoroughfares and the tranquility of the riverside cycle paths, quiet enough to hear the birds signing in the reed beds and the fish jumping for mosquitoes as dusk falls.

Its all here – and so much more to look forward to. First I probably just need a rest.